Test Your Knowledge on the Adorable Fennec Fox!

Fennec Fox: The Smallest Canid in the World

• The fennec fox is a small, crepuscular fox species found in the deserts of North Africa, ranging from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula.
• It is the smallest fox species, with unusually large ears that serve to dissipate heat and listen for underground prey.
• The fennec fox's coat, ears, and kidney functions have adapted to the desert environment with high temperatures and little water. It mainly eats insects, small mammals and birds.
• The fennec has a life span of up to 14 years in captivity and about 10 years in the wild. Its main predators are the Verreaux's eagle-owl, jackals and other large mammals.
• Fennec families dig out burrows in the sand for habitation and protection, which can be as large as 120 m2 (1,300 sq ft) and adjoin the burrows of other families.
• The fennec fox is distributed throughout the Sahara, from Morocco and Mauritania to northern Sudan, through Egypt and its Sinai Peninsula. It inhabits small sand dunes and vast treeless sand areas with sparse vegetation such as grasses, sedges and small shrubs.
• The fennec fox is an omnivore, feeding on small rodents, lizards, geckos, skinks, small birds and their eggs, insects, fruits, leaves, roots and also some tubers. It relies on the moisture content of prey, but drinks water when available.
• Captive fennec foxes reach sexual maturity at around nine months and mate between January and April. They usually breed only once per year.
• The oldest captive male fennec fox was 14 years old, and the oldest female 13 years.
• African horned owl species such as the Pharaoh eagle-owl prey on fennec fox pups, and they are also commonly trapped for exhibition or sale to tourists in North Africa.
• The fennec fox is bred commercially as an exotic pet. A breeders' registry has been set up in the United States to avoid problems associated with inbreeding.
• The fennec fox is listed in CITES Appendix II and protected in several African countries, including Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt.
• The fennec fox is the national animal of Algeria and serves as the nickname for the Algeria national football team "Les Fennecs".